Friday, May 16, 2014

Praise
"Carl Kurtz is a photographer who blooms where he is rooted. He puts into words and images what people who love nature and the Midwest wish they could say and do. Each image and comment provides something to think about beyond the week they were originally shared."—Linda and Robert Scarth, authors, Deep Nature: Photographs from IowaUI Press editor, Holly Carver, sat down with Carl Kurtz to ask him a few questions about the inspiration for his book and his life as a photographer. Check back Monday to read the conclusion of the interview!

Holly Carver: You’ve been sending out a nature photo
and a short essay every week for more than eight years. How did this
start?

Carl Kurtz: This
began as a means to share observations with others and to encourage them to
look more carefully at the world we live in.

HC: Is it hard, some weeks, to find a
worthy subject? If you have more than one candidate, how do you decide which to
feature?

CK: Some
weeks, it is difficult to locate a suitable subject and other weeks, I may have
half a dozen or more. I try to use what is most characteristic for that time of
year and, if possible, something new that I have not used before.

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Cocks took a
moment to talk to him about what drew him to write about transcendental
meditation.

Catherine Cocks: What brought TM to Fairfield, Iowa, and what did local
people think when the movement’s members first arrived?

Joseph Weber: The movement bought the campus of a bankrupt
Presbyterian college in Fairfield, Parsons College, in the 1970s when it was
looking for a place to house a fast-growing university it had created in
California. Many Fairfielders were mortified at the prospect of meditators
descending on their little farm town, fearing what some thought of as practices
that were at least un-Christian if not Satanic. They fretted that newcomers
would be a bunch of hippies. In fact, they proved to be quite strait-laced, by
order of the guru. Still, there was a gulf between them and the locals that in
some respects endures years later.

CC: The Beatles were big TM supporters back in the 1960s. Are
there any comparable celebrities who support the movement today?

JW: None are comparable, but there are celebrities who
endorse TM-style meditation and help parts of the movement. Among these are
comedians Jerry Seinfeld and Russell Brand, talk-show maven Oprah, shock-jock
Howard Stern, newsman George Stephanopoulos and newswomen Candy Crowley and
Soledad O’Brien, along with actors including Hugh Jackman. Celebrity endorsers
have long been central to movement marketing and that endures, though some backers
are getting long in the tooth, as are the followers.

CC: Why do you think spiritual practices from India, China,
and other Asian nations have become more popular in the United States over the
past fifty years?

JW: Americans have been materially successful beyond belief
but are spiritually hungry. Traditional religious practice doesn’t cut it for
many. So they look elsewhere, and the beliefs and practices of the East seem
appealing, especially those that calm restless minds or promise to sharpen
those minds. At the same time, Eastern spiritualists have known they could find
a ready market in the United States. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi was one in a line of
such spiritual entrepreneurs who had come to the United States over many
decades to popularize their ancient practices and, in the process, do pretty
well for themselves.

Monday, May 12, 2014

Joseph Weber’s Transcendental Meditation in America will be published this month. Editor Catherine Cocks took a
moment to talk to him about what drew him to write about transcendental
meditation.

Catherine Cocks: Why did you decide to write about the Transcendental
Meditation movement?

Joseph Weber: The movement’s influence on American culture
has been profound. It popularized meditation at a time—in the early 1960s—when
the practice was seen as foreign and strange. Then it took off like wildfire as
the Baby Boomer generation came of age and sought something spiritual that was outside
traditional religious practice and a bit anti-establishment. The movement’s
influence endures today, as meditation has become comfortably entrenched in
society. But somewhere along the way the movement went off the tracks, moving
from a youth-oriented organization that catered to Boomers fed up with war and
violence to something critics derided as cult-like, with its own esoteric body
of practices and beliefs. I was curious about what happened, why and how, and
about what that story said about a particularly American predilection for
Utopian movements and charismatic leaders.

CC: How did movement officials and members respond to your
interest?

JW: Some were cool and some warm, perhaps because the
movement has been fractured ever since the guru, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, died in
2008. Some leaders, such as those at the Maharishi University of Management,
were quite helpful. They believe they have a great story to tell. But the top
leaders of the world movement and its U.S. arm did not talk with me, though
their chief spokesman was of some help. Many members in Fairfield, the home of
the U.S. arm of the movement, were quite gracious and welcoming.

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About Me

Established in 1969, the University of Iowa Press is a well-regarded academic publisher serving scholars, students, and readers throughout the world with works of poetry, short fiction, and creative nonfiction. As the only university press in the state, Iowa is also dedicated to preserving the literature, history, culture, wildlife, and natural areas of the Midwest.
For scholars and students, we publish reference and course books in the areas of archaeology, American studies, American history, literary studies, theatre studies, and the craft of writing.
For general readers, we publish the winners of the Iowa Short Fiction Award and the Iowa Poetry Prize, poetry anthologies, books on the archaeology and natural history of the Midwest, cookbooks, letters and diaries, biographies, memoirs, regional history, and collections of historic and contemporary photographs.
The Press is a member of the AAUP and Green Press Initiative.

Submission Ideas?

Recognizing the richness of our midwestern heritage, Bur Oak Books, named after the state tree of Iowa, represent the University of Iowa Press’s dedication to preserving the literature, history, geography, and culture of our region. Bur Oak Guides assist your exploration and enjoyment of the natural environment of the Midwest.

If you have an idea for the next Bur Oak Book or Guide, please send it to Holly Carver at holly-carver@uiowa.edu.